WHO: No H7N9 human-to-human transmission
April 23, 2013, 9:12 am

Twenty one people have died as a result of the virus so far [Xinhua]

There is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of the H7N9 virus despite small clusters of cases, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials said on Monday after a two-day visit to Shanghai.

China has confirmed 105 infections and 21 deaths by Monday.

East China’s Shandong province reported its first case on Monday, and two new cases were also reported in eastern Zhejiang province, according to provincial disease control departments.

“Whenever we find a virus in animals, people become worried about whether it can be transmitted to humans. That’s why domestic and international experts now pay great attention to the new strain of H7N9 bird flu,” Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general for health security and environment of the WHO, said at a news conference.

“But right now, we do not have evidence that the flu has sustained human-to-human transmission,” he said.

Fukuda led a joint team of experts from the WHO and Chinese health authorities to Shanghai, where the flu was first reported.

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.